Doug Wilson, John Piper, and John Macarthur are all eminently more qualified to speak on biblical worship than me. Especially MacArthur, now that he’s worshipping in heaven. But I can’t help but notice a common thread between the three of them that leaves me feeling like they missed the mark. The commonality is that their vision for what worship should practically look like seems (surprisingly?) monocultural.

Take Wilson for instance, who in this video speaks on the idea that music should fit the occasion. He remarks on how he loves blues music, but he would “rather be dead in a ditch than have it in worship service.” Take this idea down the street to the black Baptist church and see how that goes. Saying that blues music isn’t appropriate for worship is not a biblical teaching on worship. It’s just Doug Wilson’s personal preference.

In this video, John Piper expresses how he believes worship should be done with “undistracting excellence.” I would mostly agree with that. But again I think we potentially run into the same mutlicultural problem. That is, what one culture would consider normal and undistracting, another one might easily consider very distracting.

Finally, in this video John MacArthur criticizes singing “7/11” (singing the same seven words eleven times) songs and even seems to get a little careless when he seemingly boasts in a church “not interested in feelings.” This perspective strikes me as more of a personal and cultural impulse than biblical one. And also one that may not go well in a multicultural context.

What this all boils down to is that a song like this one that I played in church some weeks back wouldn’t pass muster by the standards of these comments. 16 bar blues format? Can’t do it. The performance a little too ostentatious and different to what I’m used to? It’s out. And we certainly can’t do with that much repetition.